Demand for new cars in the EU showed signs of strong recovery in April, while in Croatia its increase slowed down, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) on Thursday.

In April in 27 EU countries – excluding Malta, as its data was unavailable – a total of 1.3 million new cars have been registered, or 9.6 percent up from the same month in 2017.

The biggest year-on-year increase in new car sales were in Spain, by 12.3 percent, followed by the United Kingdom (10.4 percent), France (9.0 percent), Germany (8.0 percent), and Italy (6.5 percent).

The countries of the so-called “new” and “old” Europe are now almost equal in the growth of new car sales, after several months of “new” members of the EU in the lead.

In April, in the 12 “new” members of the EU – involving those who had joined the bloc in 2004 or after – there was a 14.2 percent year-on-year increase in newly registered cars, while in the 15 “old” member states it rose by 9.2 percent. But in absolute numbers, “old” Europe saw 1.08 million new vehicles registered, opposed to just 106,000 in “new” Europe.

According to ACEA’s report, there were slightly more than 7,000 new cars registered in Croatia in April, or 13 percent up from April 2017. The year-on-year growth rate thus slowed down from last year’s April, when it was 17 percent.

Over the first four months of 2018, a total of about 5.48 million new cars were registered across the EU. In Croatia, nearly 21,000 new cars were registered, or 22.6 percent up compared to the first four months of 2017.

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